Grid-Scale Energy Storage

What are redox flow batteries?

Unlike traditional batteries where all of the components are contained in a single can, pouch, or pack, redox flow batteries are comprised of a separate electrochemical cell and external tanks that contain solutions of the active materials (see diagram).

Think of a conventional gas-powered vehicle—the electrochemical cell is analogous to the engine, and the solutions of active materials represent the fuel. By designing the battery in this way, engineers can choose to independently optimize performance for high power applications (large electrochemical cell) or high energy applications (large tanks of active materials).

Traditional Redox-Flow Battery

Limitations of Hydro & Compressed Air

Redox flow batteries are a particularly economically attractive option for large-scale energy storage, enabling utilities to store energy from intermittent energy sources and reliably deliver that power when it is needed (e.g. storing solar energy for nighttime use or storing up energy from wind farms for times of the day when the wind is not blowing).

Pumped hydroelectric or compressed-air storage have traditionally dominated the field of grid-level energy storage but are generally only practical where local topography and geology are favorable. Redox flow batteries offer a new, safer, more efficient, and more widely applicable way of meeting that demand.

Jolt Energy Storage Technologies Redox-Flow Battery Concept

Jolt Energy’s Safer, More Sustainable Solution

While many proposed redox flow cell models require the relatively expensive and rare element vanadium, Jolt Energy’s organic redox flow battery concept (see diagram) uses only carbon-based compounds which are specifically designed for this purpose. Moreover, it does not require a highly acidic electrolyte, while offering a higher operating voltage and 3-4 times the energy density of typical vanadium-based systems.